Court: Genocide case against Israel opens

Ali Abunimah, The Electronic Intifada, Rights and Accountability, Jan. 11, 2024; Shauna Schwartz, Sheldon S., Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Ceasefire now! (IfNotNowMovement.org)

The eyes of the world turned to The Hague on Thursday morning as the International Court of Justice began hearing the genocide case against Israel brought by [the courageous government of] South Africa.

The landmark two-day hearing is to decide if the court will impose “provisional measures” – such as ordering a ceasefire – while it considers the full case, something that could take years.

Genocide in DC (amnestyinternational.org)

Michael Lynk spoke to The Electronic Intifada’s livestream on Wednesday to provide background and analysis of what to expect from this initial stage of the process.

Watch his interview in the video above. Lynk, a professor of law at Western University in London, Ontario, served as the UN special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories from 2016-2022.

• HOW TO WATCH: Starting at 9:00 am GMT, the hearings will be streamed live and on demand in English and French, on the International Court of Justice’s website and on UN Web TV.

On Thursday, lawyers for South Africa present their case for three hours. On Friday, Israel’s representatives will have the same amount of time for a rebuttal.

It is also being streamed live on YouTube and you can watch that recording any time: More

• ElectronicIntifada.org
• Jewish Voice for Peace
• Not in Our Name
• BreakingtheSilence.org.il
• American Veterans for Peace
• Code Pink: Women for Peace

"Oct. 7th was Inevitable" - Max Blumenthal

David Barsamian (Alternative Radio), Max Blumental (thegrayzone.com); Pfc. Sandoval, Ashley Wells, Sheldon S. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

October 7th was Inevitable

Program #BLUM003. Recorded in Boston, Massachusetts on Dec. 14, 2023. Rated 5.00 out of 5.00 based on 2 customer ratings (2 customer reviews).

• The Gray Zone - KPFK 90.7 FM
• Alternative Radio - KPFK
• Middle East in Focus - KPFK

Audio sample: Gideon Levy, the noted Israeli journalist, says “Gaza is a cage, the biggest prison in the world.” [It's really a concentration camp, not a prison. Humans would never be treated so poorly in a prison.] There are 2.3 million Palestinians locked in a small area, a strip of land five miles wide, 25 miles long.

thegrayzone.com

For years they have been under siege by the bully Israel trying to starve them, relocated, and now bomb them out of existence. Now a relentless bombing campaign, with American funding and weapons transfers, has resulted in tens of thousands of killings in a Zionist-Jewish genocide of massive destruction.

If you’re trapped in a cage, you’ll try to break out. Millions of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem have been under the boot of Israel troopers called the IDF, enduring decades of occupation, random killings, oppression, false imprisonment of thousands, illegal evictions, land seizures, roadblocks, checkpoints, walls, and fences.

• AUDIO: Oct. 7th was Inevitable — Alternative Radio
• ICJ hearings over Israel’s genocide, a vital step to help protect Palestinian civilians - Amnesty International
• Lebanon: Deadly Israeli attack on journalists must be investigated as a war crime - Amnesty International
• Israel/OPT: US must not block a resolution to demand an immediate ceasefire - Amnesty International

WH Auden: Selected Poems

That explains what happened on October 7th. It doesn’t excuse it. As the great poet W.H. Auden wrote, 

“I and the public know

What all schoolchildren learn,

Those to whom evil is done

Do evil in return.”

[Translation: "Hurt people hurt people."]

Speaker: Max Blumenthal (The Grayzone at thegrayzone.com) is an award-winning Jewish journalist and editor-in-chief of The Grayzone. He is the author of Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel, The 51-Day War: Ruin and Resistance in Gaza, and The Management of Savagery.

• REVEALED: The Messiah (Menachem Mendel Schneerson) has been born in NY and is now gone, true story behind the synagogue 'tunnels' as Hassidic Chabad members say boys took it upon themselves to expand the home of their 'messiah'

Suu Kyi's party welcomes amnesty

Suu Kyi party "welcomes Myanmar amnesty"

YANGON (AFP) – Burma's main opposition party on Wednesday welcomed the release of 7,000 prisoners but reiterated calls for the ruling junta to free Aung San Suu Kyi and other political detainees.

• US changes tack on Burma

Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) issued a statement almost one week after the military regime announced that it was freeing the prisoners so they could vote in elections due next year.

"The NLD warmly welcomes the release of 7,114 national prisoners that included some 100 political prisoners from prisons on September 17," the statement said. "However we also call for the unconditional and immediate release of all political prisoners including the NLD vice chairman Tin Oo and general secretary Aung San Suu Kyi," it said. More>>

• USCampaignForBurma.org
• Palin talks US-China relations in speech in Asia